Labels

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Chaperoned by Dora Heldt

Chaperoned

by Dora Heldt

This is a charming book with a hilarious cast of characters and a little
detective work and romance thrown in. Every family has someone who
means well but drives everyone nuts. Christine is 45 years old, but her
father treats her like she is 14. When her mother has to have surgery
and go to the hospital for 2 weeks (and yes, this is not in the U.S.
where the average length of stay is a couple of days), everyone else is
busy. So Christine becomes the sacrificial lamb taking care of her
father since he cannot do even simple household tasks such as making
coffee, cooking, and laundry. When her friend Dorothea expresses the
concern that the vacation could be too tiring and too much for him,
Christine tells her otherwise. "Dorothea, you don't understand. I'm
more worried that he'll be too much for me. He can be quite
demanding. He really can't do anything by himself, he has to be kept
busy, he's always sticking his nose in, he always knows better, he
doesn't like change, he..." Her mother writes her a list of
instructions including "Don't get impatient if he makes a mistake now
and then. He means well, and you know how sensitive he is." Now this
is a working vacation. Christine and Dorothea are to be helping their
friend Marleen renovate her guest house and restaurant on a tourist
island. Her mother has told him that they could really use his help
supervising the contractors and lending a hand. The mishaps start
before they even get to the island, and it bodes no good that he is color
blind and fires the painters while the others are serving breakfast.

Positives: It is light-hearted, and there are surprises along the way.

Negatives:
At times Christine seems awfully naive for someone who is 45 years
old, e.g. lending a lot of money to a stranger. There is sex before
marriage, but not at all steamy and more of an aside.